Influence of secondary school teachers' professionalism on K.C.S.E performance in Masinga district-Machakos county.

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigated influence of secondary school teachers' professionalism on K.C.S.E performance. Performance in K.C.S.E is determined by teachers' professionalism, which is a result of serious training and empowerment of teachers by the employer. The employer provides code of regulations to act as a guide to the teachers, which is necessary for each one of them to be conversant with and adhere to as they perform their duties. Professionalism also comes as a result of teachers' commitment to meet the targets and objectives of the employer and of the ministry of education. The study particularly sought to address the poor K.C.S.E. performance in Masinga District of Machakos County, a district that is well endorsed with resources/education facilities. The study was conceived due the fact that K.C.S.E. performance has staggered at a MS of C- since the establishment of the education department in the district and very few quality grades have been obtained, with few student transiting to tertiary colleges and university institutions. The study was conducted with the purpose of identifying measures to improve performance. The study was conducted through descriptive survey design and forty-one secondary school teachers who were two hundred and twenty three in total plus seven education officers were involved. Purposeful sampling procedure was used so that subjects performed well and those performed poorly were investigated. Questionnaire and interview schedules were used for validation of information and test -retest reliability method was used to establish the liability of the instrument. The data was analyzed based on Statistical Package for Social science (S.P.S.S) and Microsoft excel. The study established that there were low levels of adherence to T.C.R.T.s which translate to poor performance in the area. It was also clear that most of teachers did not have access to this important document. The researcher recommends copies of code of regulation to be made readily available to teachers, effort should be made sensitize teachers on code of regulations through seminar and workshops and close monitoring supervision be done to enforce professionalism among teachers .Further research on the influence of external environment on performance is recommended.